College students slash tuitions and discover how to cash in on life experience and earn legitimate credits through the nontraditional strategies reported in Caplin's book Extreme College 101: How to Aggressively Fast-Track Your College Degree.
PRLog - Aug 19, 2013 - HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. -- Buying used textbooks, selling old ones, how about renting your school parking space? College students, now more than ever , are seeking effective financial solutions and strategies to offset skyrocketing tuitions and ever upwardly spiraling student loan interest rates. Eli Caplin’s newly released book Extreme College 101: How to Aggressively Fast-Track Your College Degree by Applying Your Already- Acquired Life Knowledge is sure to become a choice read for those looking to curb the college fiscal crush. In Extreme College 101 Caplin explores opportunities and sets up step-by-step courses of action to power through college by creating legitimate credits from work, hobby and other life experiences.
“ Whether you’re jump starting your degree in high school ,” Caplin commented, “ or as an adult learner, converting life experiences into credits, a person’s accumulated knowledge can be an extraordinary financial resource and a real money saver .”
Before writing the book Caplin personally tested the strategies and methods explained. The experiment yielded highly successful results with Caplin amassing thirty credits, or a year of college work, in five short months while saving thousands of tuition dollars in the process.
Deciding to first investigate one of the national exam services reported in Extreme College 101, Caplin earned several quick credits in a matter of days. There are a number of recognized national organizations that offer a range of examinations from basic college core classes in English, mathematics and social sciences to more specialized disciplines such as the Excelsior College Exams for Nursing.
“ I was amazed. By dedicating myself to an hour of study each day then a ninety minute examination I earned six college credits in less than two weeks. That one test represented a savings of more than fourteen hundred dollars in tuition ” said Caplin referring to the current national average college credit at two hundred and fifty dollars, less the examination fee.
Also noted in the book are scores of corporations and businesses, industry associations, fraternal, religious, civic, and special interest organizations and groups who have qualified to help their employees or membership be granted college credits for tasks they’ve performed. This process is done through a choice of national college credit recommendation services. Military service, workplace experience , formal courses taken outside of college, apprenticeship programs and other professional certificates can , through these recommendation services, be transformed into applicable college credit. I was surprised to discover a long forgotten Dale Carnegie class I had taken decades ago could be utilized as for either and English or communications elective course credits. Those credits applied to my college transcript could have meant a savings of close to one thousand dollars.
Following the round of testing Caplin, with the guidance of an assigned college mentor, created a Learning Portfolio which is a document designed to relate life experiences to college courses and is a formal request for credit. “It’s a great opportunity to show what you know and the process is simple, “ Caplin said. ‘You match your life knowledge and competencies to a course, write an essay based on the course syllabus and document your claims. The essays ( you may submit requests for more than one course) are then evaluated by a faculty member and credit is either granted or not. The portfolio is not graded.”
The course syllabus is an outline of learning outcomes a student is expected to be able to competently demonstrate at the conclusion of the study. Using the points stated in the syllabus and demonstrating how your life experiences satisfies each is the objective of the essay. For example, if you’ve worked your way up into a supervisory position in a business setting , there’s a good possibility you’ll be able to identify several business administration courses that list in their syllabuses functions and practices you already and routinely practice. Or if you are an avid photographer, beginning , intermediate photography or image processing skills courses may present an “opportunity to show what you know”.
Typically a college will allow six months to complete and submit the portfolio. Caplin ‘s was submitted in four. “ It’s self-paced. You’re not in the classroom completing assignments. This required discipline, which I struggled with at first, but I eventually established a daily routine. ”
Dollars-and-cents-wise Caplin’s Learning Portfolio produced an additional several thousand dollars in savings after college administrative costs and expenses. Writing the portfolio also had a surprising side benefit for Caplin “ It’s a penetrating look into person you’ve become. I had taken for granted the knowledge I’d accumulated just by living and doing. It gave me new insights and appreciation of myself and a different prospective on my experiences. Even my failures had created some outstanding learning events which I wrote about – and got credit for- in my essays.”
When asked about the downside to working on a Learning Portfolio Caplin said,” Try to stay away from courses that have been written ,developed and offered exclusively by one specific instructor. Courses available for review by several department faculty members will expedite the process and leaves room for review by another colleague or the department chairperson should you have any reason for further evaluation.”
So what was the total cost savings for Caplin’s five month experiment? “ After college administrative costs, evaluation and examination fees and portfolio submission materials I kept almost seven thousand dollars in my pocket,” Caplin said.
A powerful little paperback, Extreme College 101: How to Aggressively Fast-Track Your College Degree By Applying Your Already-Acquired Life Knowledge provides information on hundreds of corporations and businesses, industry associations, fraternal, religious, civic, and special interest organizations that help their employees or membership be granted college credits for the work they’ve done , comprehensive material and websites contacts for national examination programs, tips on “ time shifting” , places to find no cost course materials and step-by-step instructions for converting life knowledge into valuable college credits by creating a killer Life Learning Portfolio.
Extreme College 101 can be found on Amazon.com in paperback for $16.95 ( http://www.amazon.com/extreme-college-101-Aggressively-Already-Acquired/dp/1482711990 ) and is available on Kindle, Nook and other popular electronic readers through Smashwords.com (https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/313842 and through various booksellers (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/extreme-college-101-eli-caplin/1115250151?ean=2940044520271.)
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Tuitions Slashed with Extreme College 101: How to Aggressively Fast-Track Your College Degree
August 19, 2013 at 11:44 AM EDT
